BY Chipo Brenda
No Corona Virus IN Uganda Yet:
The Ministry of Health has strengthened its measures in fighting the deadly COVID 19 disease within the country.
Speaking to journalists at the ministry headquarters in Kampala, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng says the outbreak has now spread to all continents while 109 countries are affected and sixty- one countries have local transmissions and six countries are under supervision and investigation.
The current situation states that 113,702 confirmed cases are being reported with over 4000 deaths.
In Africa, eleven countries have reported cases of coronavirus and they include South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, Togo, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Cameroon, Tunisia, Burkina Faso and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Following the arrival of the disease in the African continent, the ministry of health has issued guidelines for all mass gatherings in the country as preventive measures to avoid COVID 19.
- Washing hands with clean water and soap.
- Use sanitizers and after using them throw in a dust bin
- No handshaking
- No hugging
“Immediately stop hugs and handshaking because of these speedup the spread of the virus. But do not be afraid and think that the disease is here, No. these are measures put in place to be followed before we are attacked” Aceng clarifies to the public.
Aceng says Uganda has no confirmed case of COVID 19, however, a total of 1632 travelers have been identified as high risk and have been quarantined for purposes of follow up.
They include 1071 Chinese nationals, 244 are Ugandans, 43 are Italian nationals, 34 are South Korea and 484 are other nationals while samples of 26 persons who presented signs and symptoms of coronavirus have been tested but no one has turned positive.
According to Minister Aceng, Uganda has refuted the evolution of COVID 19.
Country representative World Health Organization Dr. Yonas Tegegn says the increasing number of coronavirus is alarming hence asking the government to change the course of the outbreak and take action.
Yonah adds that several countries have shown that this virus can be suppressed and controlled.
He concludes by requesting the government of Uganda to strike a balance between health protection, minimizing disruption and respecting human rights.
Incident Manager for COVID 19 Coronavirus, Dr. A. Kajirita says upon arrival, people from various countries are going to be sprayed with a disinfectant to kill all the infections one might have come with.
Kajirita adds that no one from category one that is the countries from high- risk countries will simply be sprayed and left to go but rather will be quarantined for a period of 14 days Tanta mounting to two weeks. Upon completing the period of quarantine people will be given a certificate of medical clearance to enable him or her to travel worldwide freely.
There are adequate corona test kits in the country and are on all border points.
The world health organization has equipped the country with a test machine that can run 75 tests but at the moment one test is done daily.
